NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� defense urged jurors Tuesday to acquit him and put an end to a #MeToo-era rape case that has , while prosecutors pressed to vied to restore a onetime conviction that got unwound.
Weinstein, the former Hollywood honcho who has been imprisoned on various sex crime convictions since 2020, watched quietly as the two sides made their closing arguments about whether he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in March 2013.
鈥淪he has taken on a false narrative about all of this,鈥� said.
鈥淪he has absolutely no motive to lie. None,鈥� prosecutor Nicole Blumberg countered, noting that Mann went through of grueling, deeply personal testimony.
Jurors, who are expected to start deliberating Wednesday, will have to sift through the complexities of a yearslong relationship between Weinstein, 73, and Mann, 40.
They met in early 2013, when she was trying to make it big in Hollywood. that she anticipated a professional connection, was taken aback when he started making sexual advances but decided to have a relationship with the then-married, Oscar-winning producer.
A few weeks later, according to Mann, Weinstein abruptly took a room at a Doubletree hotel where she and a friend were staying. When she accompanied Weinstein upstairs to tell him she didn’t want a sexual interlude, she testified, he trapped her in the room, grabbed her arms, insisted she undress, went into the bathroom for a time, and then raped her.
鈥淗e just treated me like he owned me,鈥� she testified last month.
Weinstein didn’t testify, but his defense contends the encounter was consensual and part of a caring relationship that Mann fostered and leaned on until Weinstein鈥檚 in 2017. That was when news reports about allegations against him propelled a global campaign against sexual assault and sexual harassment. He has said he behaved 鈥渨rongly鈥� but
He was of raping Mann, got the , then saw a on it at a .
In summations Tuesday, Agnifilo portrayed Mann as an unreliable witness making an ill-supported, implausible accusation. He pointed to her uncertainty about various dates and details in the years-old events, and he recalled a point when she said she was during cross-examination, prompting court to end early for the day.
Agnifilo underscored the warm email exchanges and continued get-togethers Mann had with Weinstein before and after the alleged rape 鈥� and a she wrote to herself two days after the encounter. In the note, she expresses her misgivings about her emotional attachment in a nonexclusive relationship, asks whether she loves 鈥渉im or the idea of him,鈥� questions her 鈥渨oulds and would nots,鈥� and worries about being 鈥渁 鈥榖ad鈥� person.鈥�
The note doesn’t name the man, but Agnifilo asserted it was about Weinstein and that its silence about any alleged assault spoke volumes.
鈥淭his is how she’s falling in love with him鈥� and grappling with feelings of transgressing the values of her religious upbringing,鈥� the defense lawyer argued.
The prosecutor’s rebuttal: 鈥淪he鈥檚 burying what the defendant did to her, and she鈥檚 struggling with the good parts of the defendant and the awful, the evil parts of the defendant.鈥�
Over the years, Weinstein encouraged Mann鈥檚 acting ambitions, helped her land a hairstyling job, provided emotional support during her father鈥檚 terminal illness and tried to send her money 鈥� which she declined 鈥� when she was broke, according to trial testimony and exhibits.
To Weinstein’s attorney, it amounted to 鈥渁 sweet, loving, supportive relationship.鈥�
But to Blumberg, 鈥淭his was a woman who got manipulated by that man.鈥�
While Mann acknowledged she loved 鈥渁 part鈥� of Weinstein, she testified that she begged him not to do anything sexual that day in the Manhattan hotel.
鈥淣o means no 鈥� to everyone except Harvey Weinstein,鈥� Blumberg said, adding: 鈥淛essica Mann deserves closure and justice.鈥�
Whatever the outcome of the trial, the former studio boss still will stand convicted of other sex crimes in and though he is appealing those convictions. If convicted in the current trial, Weinstein could face up to four years in prison 鈥� less time than he already has served.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.
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